Education Kit - Limelight · 2017 Limelight Australian Composition Seminar Hosted by Santa Sabina College, Strathfield Education Kit ... Step 8 - using your pitch centres from step

2017 Limelight Australian Composition Seminar

Hosted by Santa Sabina College, Strathfield

Education Kit

This is the Test from No Distant Place - Lisa Cheney Debugeti from The Lyrebird in my Piano - Richard Grantham Tango-Valse-Rag from L’Histoire du Soldat - Igor Stravinsky

Kit authored by Andrew Batt-Rawden, Lisa Cheney and Richard Grantham

This is the Test Movement 2 of ‘No Distant Place’

Lisa Cheney 2015

Context Composed: 2015 Audio Link: www.limelightmagazine.com.au/acs2017 Tempo; MM=60 Key; Tonal centres with different scale structures throughout Metre: None

Composition Notes - By Lisa Cheney I. Soul’s Eternity II. This is the Test Earlier this year I had the unique experience of discovering a poem by Derek Bourne-Jones in a cemetery, located on a rock in the centre of a beautiful ‘Garden of No Distant Place’. The powerful words of the poem eloquently touched on many feelings that I had had up until to that point about life, loss, sacrifice, eternity and most importantly, love. Drawing my inspiration from the poem, ‘No Distant Place’ is being approached as a large-scale and long-term project, of which Movement I and II are initial offerings. Movement I, ‘Soul’s Eternity’ is dedicated to the contributions of our World War 1 heroes, in particular the selfless bravery of Army Nurse Rachel Pratt. Conflicting emotions arise when reflecting on such tragic events as war and sacrifice; an undeniable sense of deep sadness and loss, an aching awareness of the long term impacts and of the vast legacies left behind. These feelings combined left me with a sense of depth, timelessness and the gravity of an immeasurable ‘eternity’. Near the beginning of the poem, Derek Bourne-Jones writes,

The soul’s eternity, My grief would be for you

To know that you were sad And cared to live no more Without me by your side.

I found it almost impossible not to hear those words being spoken to loved ones by the millions of voices who lost their lives. With this impact in mind, the work explores what I felt

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to be an infinite sense of space, time (eternity) with a constant sense of tension and ‘waiting’ permeating throughout. The work begins ‘senza misura’ (free time) and remains flexible throughout. The traditional roles of melody and accompaniment are examined and subverted. In the place of a traditional melody, foregrounded notes rise out of chords and clusters, often emerging from or responding waves of energy. II ‘This is the Test’:

And, too, this is the test Of that philosophy

In which our two minds grew.

Energetic and gestural, the second movement begins with the Bass Clarinet and Piano (a reference to the ‘two minds’) in a series of dynamic, forceful trills. The idea of rapid movement continues to evolve throughout the work, ‘testing’ the ensemble with rhythmic runs, crushed notes and on going sense of blurred time and space. Written in free-time without key signatures or bar lines, the work transitions between metrical and non-metrical passages and ideas. The performers are granted a liberal license in the shaping of phrases and gestural ideas.

No Distant Place Derek Bourne-Jones

If, dear one, I should die, My constant prayer will be That you share my belief And know the reason why You must go on, and live And, too, this is the test

Of that philosophy In which our two minds grew.

The soul’s eternity, My grief would be for you

To know that you were sad And cared to live no more Without me by your side.

Throughout my life your love Has urged me ever on,

Has comforted and soother The moments of despair.

This moment, more than all,

Is when I need you most I now could happy be

Since I have thrown away That nature which I feared Would jeopardise my soul.

But let me be assured That one more gift you’ll give –

That joyly you will live And love the things I loved And hope the hopes I held.

I then shall ready be To wait at heaven’s gate

Your soul’s approach to see Meanwhile, hold me not back

But feel great joy that I Have looked on earth’s dark glass

And did not fear to die.



Brief Analysis

1. Form a. The composition is divided into rehearsal marks A through to Q. b. Each section (or phrase) has its own content characteristics, some of which

relate to one another with some dove-tailing and development of technique, exact and inexact repetition. The repetitions and developments create a sense of form.

2. Content

a. There are some key materials used throughout this movement. These include;

i. Broken runs leading to trills or different measured tremolos ii. Glissandi iii. Long held tones iv. Broken run / tremolo hybrids v. Short, sharp accented notes vi. Chords vii. Displaced instrument entries

3. Pitch

a. The pitch material is based on tonal centres which shift throughout the work giving it a sense of tonal movement, yet the harmonic material of each section is non-diatonic.

4. Rhythm/Time

a. The piece is not in any metre. b. In some sections the work actively encourages metrical malalignment (F, end

of K). c. The sections/phrases vary in length, creating sense of expanded space/time

(such as A, K) or contracted space/time. d. Most sections require alignment of the crotchet beat between the instruments.

5. Texture

a. Polyphonic and homophonic textures are mostly prevalent.



Questions on the Music

1. Questions on Notation a. At letter G in the bass clarinet part, what does the minim in brackets above

the four demi semi quavers mean? b. Explain the notation at letter F in relation to time;

i. what does the 8” and 4” mean? ii. What effect does “ad lib.” have in each of the figures? iii. What effect will the “rall.” have?

c. In K what is meant by; i. “Subtone” in the clarinet part, ii. “Sul tasto” in the violin part, iii. “Stacc.” in the clarinet part, iv. “Con Ped” in the piano part (which pedal is being referred to?).

2. Questions on Composition

a. In reference to specific rehearsal marks, describe the composer’s development of the trill motif.

b. Which pitches are most prominent at A? c. When is the first B introduced? d. Write all the pitch material at F in close format on the treble staff; would you

describe this material as; i. Major ii. Minor iii. Chromatic iv. Wholetone v. Microtonal vi. Pentatonic vii. Cluster

e. When is the clarinet material at B repeated again in the piece?



3. Advanced analysis question

Fill out the following table.

Content Description Instrumentation and Texture

Pitch Centre Pitch Content

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

In reference to the table above, can you describe the form of the work? You may want to refer to;

- repeated/developed material - the pitch content - textural changes



Composition activities based on this music

Task 1 - Pitch centre approach We’re going to explore the development of pitch content beyond diatonicism. We’ll write pitch material for 5 sections, where the pitch centre may change in each section. We’ll then sort out the pitch content in each section so that it sounds interesting and holds together. In saying this, we’ll give a nod to diatonic harmonic progressions as it makes sense to our western-classically trained ears (whether you enjoy your Katy Perry, Shostakovich, Daniel Blinkhorn or Berg most of the pitch language we hear has been developed or derived from the same sources). In this exercise, we’ll just come up with pitch content, it’ll be up to you to apply it to a work. This is a pretty extended exercise that can be applied in a plethora of ways, and hopefully opens student’s minds up to writing well outside their harmonic comfort zones. As a caveat to this exercise, the word “relative” and “related” is pretty loose. Very related pitches are things like the “same pitch”, or anything you get in a major or minor scale… but the strongest ones are the dominant relationships (5ths, major 7ths), followed by 4ths, then I’d say 3rds and 6ths then major 2nds - but all this is rather subjective and up to you! Choosing Pitch Centres that make sense to our ears!

Step 1 - Pick a pitch! Step 2 - Pick another pitch that you feel is a close relative from a traditional harmony perspective. Step 3 - Choose another pitch that is related to your second pitch, but not so related to your first. Step 4 - Choose a pitch that is related to your first pitch and 3rd pitches, but not your 2nd one!

Step 5 - Chose a pitch that is either the same as your first, or very related to your 4th pitch but not the first (listen to one of each choice, it’s a good effect to hear the pitch content of the composition end in new territory, but it’s also nice to feel like you’re coming home).

E.g. I got; A, E, D#, F and A (for my ‘coming home’ sound) A, E, D#, F, and Bb (for my ‘new territory’ sound).



Making pitch material out of them that sounds awesome

Step 6 - make a hexatonic scale starting with your first pitch. Make a note of the scale pitch progression (i.e. is it Tone, Minor 3rd, Tone, Semitone, Minor 3rd, or ???) Step 7 - make an octatonic scale starting with your second pitch. Make a note of the scale pitch progression like you did with your hexatonic scale. Step 8 - using your pitch centres from step 1-5 as the ‘bass note’, write out 5 hexatonic scales and 5 octatonic scales.

[Note: the scales you make at 6 and 7 can vary, you can have a pentatonic, heptatonic, nonatonic, or even a 15-note scale if you want to get into microtones, but keep your scale structures down to 2 for this exercise]

Turning the pitch material into music

Step 9 - given you have 5 pitch centres, you’re going to have 5 phrases or sections to this work (i.e. rehearsal mark A to E). Play through each scale and pick either a hexatonic scale or an octatonic scale for each section. Note the difference in sound if you choose to start and end with the same scale type. Step 10 - You now have pitch material a 5-section or 5-phrase work.

Task 2 - No metre, no alignment. For this task you will need a friend to play music with in the same register.

Step 1 - write out an awesome melody that can be played in a broad tempo range (e.g. MM from 60 to 90). Make sure the melody lasts at least 15 seconds. You may want to use the pitch material of one of the tonal centres of the previous exercise if you’ve done it. Step 2 - get out 2 click tracks that you can put into your ears. I’d do this by downloading a free metronome app on two phones. Set 1 click track to the lowest part of your range, and set the other click track to the highest in your range. Step 3 - with a friend, play your melody through, starting at the same time, but with different metronome speeds in your ears (use headphones so you don’t hear each others’ tempi).

Getting out of the mechanical feel



Step 4 - now that you’ve played the melody through together at different tempi (which has a very simple phasing effect), take away the click track and play through the melody a number of times ad libbing with the tempo, include rubato.

If you think that different pitch material would be a good idea, consider changing your melody so that it makes harmonic sense when two or more people are playing it at different speeds with rubato.

Step 5 - allow for 1 note to be randomly paused on during each repetition of the melody. The randomly chosen note should be different between each of the performers. Step 6 - Get a few more people to join in, and observe the effect.



Debugeti The third work of The Lyrebird in my Piano suite

Richard Grantham 2014

Context Composed: 2013-14 Soundcloud link: www.limelightmagazine.com.au/acs2017 Tempo: MM=140 Key: Tonal centric with different scale structures throughout Metre: 4/4

Program Notes - Richard Grantham The Lyrebird in my Piano (2013-14) was written for Melbourne trio PLEXUS to fulfil the 2014 Lyrebird Commission, and was premiered by them in June 2014. The title alludes not only to the commission and the instrumentation, but also to the extraordinary talents for mimicry of the Superb Lyrebird itself: not only can they perfectly imitate other birds' calls and assorted environmental sounds, but some in close contact with humans have been heard imitating their neighbours' music. Even more remarkably, they appear capable of combining two tunes and singing them practically at the same time. The Lyrebird in my Piano is an attempt to answer the whimsical question of what a hypothetical lyrebird residing in my piano might sing. Each of the work's three movements is a hybrid of the styles of two of my favourite 20th-century composers, whose works are liable to find themselves inexpertly hammered out on my well-loved Yamaha. The styles are in no way intended to be rigorously authentic, which would prove a less interesting exercise in any case. First up is Satók (Satie x Bartók). Satie is the junior partner here, represented primarily by the relentless simplicity of the piano accompaniment for the first and last couple of minutes but also by the movement's flashes of humour. Bartók on the other hand strongly informs the Eastern European melodic, harmonic and sometimes contrapuntal spikiness. Secondly, Reichemitsu (Reich x Takemitsu) combines the American's signature repetitiveness - and even a little light phasing, two simultaneous repeated cycles being 9 and 16 beats long respectively - with the gentle textures and bittersweet harmonic complexity of his Japanese near-contemporary. The movement is in fact written as though it were



performed using a loop recording pedal, with the piano capturing, repeating and accumulating material from the clarinet and violin. Finally, Debugeti (Debussy x Ligeti) starts with an unmistakable French lightness and occasionally tangles the texture by mixing a bit too much unmistakeable French lightness in at once. (Spare a thought for the amount of unmistakeable French lightness allocated to the pianist, who must play almost 2500 notes at a rate of fourteen per second.) The Lyrebird in my Piano is dedicated to the Lyrebird Music Society and to PLEXUS, to both of whom I am vastly indebted - many, many thanks!

Brief Analysis Preface; as this work takes inspiration from the techniques of Debussy and Ligeti, students who are familiar with these composers’ styles will be able to identify Debussian approaches to pitch and Ligeti-esq approaches to texture. These will be highlighted in the analysis but prior knowledge of Debussy and Ligeti are not required, albeit recommended, to the study of this work.

1) Form a) The work is in a sequence of sections like a chorusless song. Each section is

about the same length except for the ensemble section from rehearsal letter F. These sections begin at;

i) bar 1 - featuring clarinet, ii) B (bar 29) - featuring violin, iii) D (bar 54) - featuring clarinet again, iv) F (bar 85) - featuring the ensemble, v) H (bar 102) - a coda for the violin.

2) Content

a) Contrary motion is used throughout the work. Examples include; i) every beat of the piano part ii) b56-57 of the clarinet part iii) each beat of the clarinet part in bar 96 and 97

b) Broken patterns are very prevalent (where the composer sets up a recurring pattern that is suddenly changed).

c) Symmetry i) Intervallic symmetry is used throughout the work and (similar concept

to the contrary motion, although applied in a different way). (1) Example: The piano part from bar 54 (rehearsal letter D) to

halfway through bar 76 is completely symmetrical - the right hand of every beat being an exact mirror image of what the left hand plays (intervallically).

(a) For example in bar 54, the left hand starts with a fifth and fourth interval upward leap (from E to B to E again)



and the right hand has a fifth and fourth interval downward leap (from C#, to F# to C#). This pattern of mirrored intervallic content ensues throughout this section.

3) Pitch a) Pitch in this work is approached in a Debussian way. This includes;

i) The use of a plethora of scale types including pentatonic, whole-tone and modes.

ii) The use of a plethora of chord types including; (1) added-note chords (especially 7ths and 9ths) (2) thirdless chords (3) Fixed interval stacking (i.e. 4ths and/or 5ths) (4) Semitone clusters

iii) Some of the vertical pitch structures come from the progress of linear patterns and create interesting colours that extend functional harmony technique (in a Debussian way)

iv) The harmonic movement of pitch material is often chromatic.

4) Rhythm a) Note the rhythmic development of the melodic material:

i) 1st verse (from bar 1) - all crochet-based, note durations ii) 2nd verse (which starts at B but rhythmic development from C, bar 39)

- introduction of triplets in the iii) 3rd verse (D, bar 54) - heavy use of triplets iv) 4th verse (F, bar 84) - back to crotchet-based subdivisions (pentuplets

and sextuplets eventually) v) 5th verse (H, bar 102) - the coda is similar to the first verse

5) Texture

a) Generally, the texture of the work is homophonic, that is there is an accompaniment (piano) and melody (either violin or clarinet)

b) Sometimes the violin and clarinet are in counterpoint, in addition to having the accompaniment.

c) The texture is polyphonic at F, where the texture is more Ligeti-esq.



Questions on the Music 1) Identify all the notes in the Clarinet melody from bar 3 to 11. What scale do those

notes form?

2) Identify all the notes in the Clarinet melody in bar 96. What scale do these notes form?

3) The material in bar 3 is similar to the material in bar 30. The material in bar 13 is

similar to the material in bar 44. a) How does the material differ? b) Which bar is similar to the material in bar 46? (hint: it’s earlier in the work)

4) Intervallic symmetry

a) In “G” (bar 96 to 101), identify the passage where intervallic symmetry is taking place between the violin and clarinet.

b) Identify the symmetry that isn’t as chromatically exact but where the parts follow a mirrored contour (i.e modal symmetry).

c) With the passage identified in 4a), write the intervals that are being mirrored

5) Musical Terms a) What do the following terms mean?

i) Piano part, Bar 6-7: “Ped____________^ sim. (1 per chord until b.25)” ii) D, bar 54: “capriccioso” iii) Piano part, bar 54: “senza Ped” iv) Clarinet part, bar 79: ”muta in B.Cl, vite!” v) F, bar 54: “tenebroso, ma energico” vi) G, bar 96: “Flat out!” vii) B 144: “Molto rallentando al fine”



Composition activities based on this music The purpose of this composition exercise is to explore some techniques students may use in their own works that have been presented in this work. We’ll be looking at symmetry and contrary motion. Pitch material creates harmonic colour. Harmony doesn’t actually mean anything mundane; minor doesn’t mean sad and major happy; whole tone and pentatonic don’t actually mean “otherworldly” and chromaticism certainly doesn’t mean chaotic. However, harmony is part of the base characteristics of a work and of a musical phrase, and its meaning is subjectively interpreted and contextual. We are going to look at modal symmetry and contrary motion at the same time, then we will look at chromatic symmetry and contrary motion at the same time. We will also look at exploring symmetry from a linear rhythmic perspective as well as harmonic.

1) Pick a scale, or create one from scratch (recommended to make one from scratch, far more fun). Choices include;

a) Major b) Minor c) Pentatonic d) Hexatonic (including Whole tone) e) Septatonic f) Octatonic g) Nonatonic h) Chromatic

2) Write out the first half of a melody. It should be about 8 seconds long, plus or minus,

and follow a very obvious contour (i.e ascending sharply, or descending slowly then a sharp ascent, etc).

Contrary motion

3) Write out the second half of the melody mirroring the contour of the first half. For example, if your melody goes; ascending slowly, sharp ascent, slow descent; the second half of it should be; slow ascent, sharp descent, slow descent. Note: the rhythm does not have to be an exact replica, but you should stick to the original scale you made/created.

Linear rhythmic symmetry and contrary motion

4) You should have a full melody that has contrary motion. We are going to double it by writing it backwards and upside down. To do this,

a) use the duration of the last note as the duration of the first note of this second half. E.g if there were 16 notes in the melody resulting at the end of question



3, the duration of the 16th note will be duration of the 1st note in this next part, the duration of the 15th note will be the duration of the 2nd note in this next part, etc.

b) The pitch material is discovered using the same contrary motion technique from before. Note that it doesn’t have to be an exact mirror, but do stick to the original scale.

Chromatic Symmetry

5) For a second instrument, either higher or lower, pick a starting pitch class (note) that is within your original scale selection (it can be the same first note if you like, though I’d recommend in a different octave).

6) Analyse the intervallic material between each of the notes in the melody you got at

the end of question 4. Apply these intervals from the starting note you got in question 5 but in the opposite direction to the first instrument. (e.g if you started by leaping up a minor 3rd in the first instrument, you’d leap down by a minor third in the second instrument). Note: you will come across notes that aren’t in your originally selected scale; and this is ok.

Modal Symmetry

7) For this contrapuntal line, we will use the melody you’ve created at question 4, and the starting note you selected at question 5 and the scale you created/selected in question 1.

8) Instead of analysing the intervallic material between each of the notes of your melody

chromatically, this time, analyse the intervallic material based on the number of steps within your scale and simply do the opposite. E.g, if the first interval is 2 steps up (in the major scale, this results in a major third leap ascending), your first interval will be 2 steps down (in a major scale, this results in a minor third descent).

Play through, with a friend, the original melody from question 4, the contrapuntal material arrived at question 6 and the material arrived at question 8… how awesome is that! - I wouldn't play all 3 at once, but try Q4+Q6, Q4+Q8, and just for fun, Q6+Q8!



Tango-Valse-Rag from the suite of L’Histoire du Soldat trio arrangement

Igor Stravinsky, 1918

Context Composed 1918 Youtube link: www.limelightmagazine.com.au/acs2017 Tempo: MM=80, MM=194 Key: Ambiguous Metre: starts in 2/4, then goes to 3/4 (waltz) and 4/8 (rag)

Program Notes Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Story, 1918), describes the story of a young soldier in WWI, who gives his violin to the devil in exchange for a book that predicts the economy of the future. I. “Marche du Soldat”. The devil must teach the soldier how to interpret the book, so the soldier agrees to go home with the devil for three days. II. “Le violon du Soldat”. When the soldier returns to his home town everyone thinks he is a ghost. He has actually been gone for three years. He starts to despair, but encounters the devil, who encourages him to put the book’s power to good use. The soldier becomes extremely wealthy, but begins to pine for the happiness of his simpler old life. He meets the devil again, who sells him his old violin, but he can no longer play. Then, he sees an old war friend who tells him that nearby a princess is dying, and that the king has announced that whoever heals her will become her husband. The soldier journeys to the castle, but the devil is already there, disguised as a virtuoso violinist. In order to win the princess's hand, the soldier must regain his power. He does so by purposely losing all his money to the devil in a card game. With the return of his power, the devil now falters and the soldier seizes his violin and begins to play. III. “Petit concert”. When the princess hears the soldier’s violin playing, she becomes miraculously healed and begins to dance. IV. “Tango-Valse-Rag”. The devil tries to interfere with the couple, but the soldier has power over him as he plays his violin and forces the devil to dance to exhaustion. V.“Danse du Diable”. The devil succumbs, but warns that if the soldier ever leaves the castle, the devil will take possession of his soul. Years later, the princess convinces the




soldier to return to his hometown to see his mother. As he approaches her door, the devil is there waiting to take him away. L’Histoire du Soldat is full of the wit and humor of Stravinsky. The violin is guttural and raw, while the clarinet seems to have an erratic will of its own, often breaking in at “inappropriate” moments and interrupting the violin. The piano acts as a combination of the rhythm section and a piano in a “honky tonk” bar. The rhythms are always shifting and changing, and the music incorporates elements of jazz, Viennese waltz, and ragtime. This piece is originally a theatrical piece written for violin, double bass, clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trombone and percussion. The story is told by actors playing the parts of the soldier, the devil, and a narrator. A dancer plays the non-speaking part of the princess. The condensed trio version was later arranged by the composer. – Sarah Wallin, 17 May 2008 (UTC) (program notes written by pianist Brigitte Garney, submitted with permission) - originally sourced from http://programnotes.wikia.com/wiki/Stravinsky_-_Suite_from_L%E2%80%99Histoire_du_Soldat

Brief Analysis 1) Form

a) The work, as the title suggests, has 3 sections; a “Tango” (from the beginning), a “Waltz” (from rehearsal mark 10) and a “Rag” (from rehearsal mark 24). These are clearly marked within the score itself, and are very distinct aurally.

b) Tango: there are 2 clear themes with some development and a bridge. The form could be described as A (from the beginning), B (rehearsal mark 4), A1 (mark 5), B1 (mark 8), Bridge (mark 9). The bridge is into the Waltz.

c) Waltz: this section can be divided into two halves. The first starts at mark 10, and the next at mark 18 (when the more contrapuntal and developed material appears). There is a bridge at mark 23 leading into the Ragtime (mark 24). This Waltz section is roughly made up of 7-15 bar phrases where material is developed from previous iterations. Things to look out for include:

i) The development of the staccato quaver contrary motion runs in the violin part, and how it juxtaposes with a contrary motion theme in the clarinet that is performed legato.

ii) The irregularity of the length of phrases - very Stravinsky. iii) The “B” material at rehearsal mark 13, the disruption of the rhythmic

expectation of the piano left hand. iv) The increasing complexity of rhythmic material as this section

continues. d) Ragtime: This part of the composition has a lot of material that is fragmented

and expressed sometimes as a single bar before jumping to other material,



sometimes chopped and interspersed, sometimes expressed in an elongated passage. Key material to look out for is:

i) the violin chopping at figure 34 (and when that is seen a bit at 28 and 35),

ii) the lilting dotted semi-quaver themes (in 24, 25, 32, 36 to the end), iii) the quick triplet descending motif at 26 (which is fragmented and

repeated later). iv) The irregularity and building/dispersing of expectation creates a lot

humour, which is supported harmonically.

2) Rhythm a) Stravinsky’s works are infamous for their rhythmic content. We won’t go into a

granular analysis for now, but students will benefit from having a look at the 3 overarching rhythmic plays that Stravinsky does in this work, and a few key points of interest.

b) There are specific rhythmic characteristics of Tango, Waltz and Ragtime that Stravinsky purposefully, and playfully, disrupts.

i) Tango - the rhythm we all know is dotted crotchet, quaver, crotchet, crotchet (or halve the duration values if you like to dotted quaver, semi quaver, quaver, quaver - like in the work we’re studying!). The question is, how does Stravinsky play with this?

(1) In the opening, the accompaniment rhythm starts on the second beat and discontinues after reaching the first note of what should have been the second repetition of the riff.

(2) The rest of this part (from mark 1 to mark 4) has the expected tango riff fragmented, disjointed, offbeat, etc.

(3) Picked up again at 5 (it was absent during 4), the riff has been fragmented and augmented beyond its usual 4/4 structure

(4) At 8, just before the Bridge to the waltz, the bass riff has already started going into a 3/8 time (despite the 2/4 time signature) which is closer to the waltz. It comes back into a dupal time at 9 (the Bridge).

ii) Valse - the rhythm we all know is generally a 3/4 with three crotchets, the first note accented (usually by being a low note) and the second and third notes of each bar being higher pitch than the first, and often of the same pitch as each other.

(1) Just before mark 12, Stravinsky breaks the pattern to break into a new phrase.

(2) At mark 13 he changes the pattern so it’s still in 3/4 but the accented notes are displaced, so moving into and out of it is a bit of a rhythmic flux.

(3) He otherwise mostly sticks to the 3/4 traditional Valse rhythm, with most of the development happening in the melodic parts in violin and clarinet.



iii) Ragtime has a straight 2/4 feel in the bass and a constantly syncopated rhythm in the melodic parts. Stravinsky plays with this quite a lot so I’ll only highlight a few instances.

(1) At 24, for example, the piano part accentuates the 4th beat of the bar, completely changing the usual 2/4 feel one expects in the accompaniment of a ragtime.

(2) At 25, he completely fragments the idea and let goes of it with a monophonic texture, letting go of the regularity of the bass, only bringing it back at 31.

(3) The syncopated rhythm of the melody is completely divorced at 26, with only hints coming back occasionally, with ‘chopping’ (another folk technique) becoming very prevalent at 28. The regular syncopated Ragtime rhythm of the melody does come back, though dissipates again.

3) Texture

a) Stravinsky uses predominantly homophonic (melody and accompaniment), heterophonic (melody and counterpoint) and some monophonic (unison, single line).

b) The textures are pretty much derived from the styles Stravinsky is referring to in this movement, which all have melody lines and accompaniment lines.

4) Pitch

a) It is important to note that, despite the lack of key signature, the clarinet is in A and sounds a minor third lower than written.

b) Tango i) The beginning uses a cluster, B, C, Db, Eb, F#, G. It is a very

ambiguous, chromatic tonality. By mark 2 he has used all 12 tones, however the cluster of notes he uses phrase per phrase differentiates, creating harmonic movement. Conventional harmonic relationships (resolutions, dissonance, consonance, unisons, etc.) pervade despite the contemporary harmonic setting.

ii) Focussing on the beginning of Tango, note the ascending bass line over the 6 bars (Db, F#, G, Ab), lingering on the F# for 6 bars, and and a major harmonic change in 3 bars before figure 2 - with C major thirds and B minor thirds alternating with an A, and a D and Eb in the base.

iii) At figure 4, note the A major triad (1st position) in the clarinet (remember to transpose down a minor third than written!) juxtaposed against the Bb minor line in the violin. This could be described as “bitonal”. Note that A major and Bb minor have a common note; C#/Db, which holds these two parts together.

c) Valse i) The Valse is a much clearer harmonic landscape than the Tango,

starting with a very ironic C major. An F# gets introduced 6 bars into it



and suddenly we’re in G major / E minor territory (the violin part interchanges F# and Fn).

ii) An interesting small, flitting yet significant harmonic feature is the introduction of the C# 8 bars into figure 11 in the violin part, this figure stands out and sounds slightly ‘wrong’ because of the C#. This subversion of harmony is relevant to the story that the Waltz is portraying (see program note).

iii) Note 4 bars before 13 how Stravinsky has a G major triad (2nd position) with the major 7th in the violin but a C, G and F# in the piano part; the clash between F# and Fn, properties indicating bitonality again (the clash between our protagonist and the devil perhaps?).

iv) Note the bar before 13, the D minor-sounding violin, the C majorish piano and D major/minor clarinet (the Fn becomes F#). Note how this bar relates to figure 17 (clarinet and violin parts are repeated, though displaced, and with a different harmony in the piano). Also note how the multi-tonality (D minor, D Major, C major) of these bars is explored more fully from figure 18.

v) There’s an interesting F# maj 7 chord in the clarinet just before figure 19 which gets resolved in an unconventional way in 19.

d) Ragtime i) Stravinsky continues to play with harmony in this section of the work

with quick fluidity. You could say this movement is in D major - as indicated by the key signature.

ii) Immediately something interesting to notice is the chromatic movement in the violin double stops in the first bar of the Rag, how it descends to E# and G# to resolve to F# and A - note that E# to F# is a semitone.

iii) Note the sudden focus on “A” from 26, and the effect of unisons, the sound of open fifths. We haven’t modulated to A major (or there’d be G#’s everywhere) but there is clearly a shift.

iv) Note at 28 the harmony shifts very suddenly again. This is highlighted by the repetition but modulation of the violin material 2 bars before 28; it has dropped an octave and a major 2nd (now starting on G, rather than A). The register change also creates a shift.

v) Note at 29 the return of “A” and the repetition of the descending triplet motif, intersecting the violin chomping.

vi) Note the repetition of the motif 3 bars after 27, the before before 28, 3 bars after 29 and then a fragment before 30 - always repeated at the same pitch despite any A, G or D tonal centricities it appears in.



Questions on the Music

1) What do these terms mean? a) sul sol tout l’archet… (violin, figure 1) b) au talon (violin, 3 bars before figure 2) c) du milieu de l’archet jusqu’au signe X (violin, 2 bars after figure 9) d) leggiero (violin, figure 10) e) court, du talon (violin, figure 13) f) The little º underneath the unison double stopped A (violin, 3 bars after figure

20)

2) Harmony questions a) How would you label the chord in the bar before figure 16? b) What is meant by “bitonal”? c) Describe what is happening, harmonically, in the transition from figure 7 to

figure 8 (hint: to approach this question, get some manuscript and distil the notes of each bar into 1 treble staff, noting the base note of each bar, then try to describe the harmonic movement in words).

3) Long answer question - Programmatic Music

a) In reference to Pitch, Rhythm, and any other musical devices you’d like to reference, how does Stravinsky exemplify the underlying story of this movement, given this program note:

IV. “Tango-Valse-Rag”. The devil tries to interfere with the couple, but the soldier has power over him as he plays his violin and forces the devil to dance to exhaustion.

Composition activities based on this music Stravinsky looks at a whole host of interesting things in this work, but we’re going to concentrate on 2 aspects: bitonality, and playing with rhythmic expectations of a certain style. To keep it easy, we’ll look at the Waltz. First let’s get an understanding of what a Waltz is. Check out this clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRTVoN95miM. Note the “om pah pah” of the bass lyrical melody that, to no surprise, follows a very standard 16 bar phrase structure which is divided, quite evenly, into 4 bar mini phrases. For our exercise we will write for piano and 2 instruments, in C. We will write 3 phrases.

1) Phrase 1 - basic Waltz.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRTVoN95miM

a) This will be a very even 16 bar structure. We are in 3/4. Commence by writing a 1 bar of “Om pah pah” (refer to Stravinsky example), and repeating it 4 times.

b) Write a further 4 bars oscillating between your original notes and another set of notes that are in another key (for example, if you had an B major triad for the first 4 bars, you may do B major triad, C minor triad, A major triad, C minor triad for the following 4 bars - for now, choose two keys with some common notes; for example the D#/Eb, G#/Ab and A#/Bb are common in the two keys I’ve selected).

c) Repeat bars 1-7. In the 16th bar (i.e the last bar of phrase 1) use the first crotchet for a chord, and keep the other two crotchets silent.

d) Write a beautiful melody on top in one of your instruments, following the 8 bar phrases. Keep that melody in your original key, and concentrate on the common-notes between your two selected keys but deviate occasionally.

2) Phrase 2 - Playing with the Waltz rhythmic structure, a little bi-tonal

a) We’re going to re-write the piano part, with the same harmonic structure as before, except this time;

i) Include 2 non-consecutive 7/8 bars ii) Include a 4/4 bar iii) For 3 bars, displace the accented beat (either by a crotchet or a

quaver). iv) Make it 17 bars, not 16.

b) Write the melodic line in 7/8 on top of the piano part, roughly adhering to accentuation of the new phrase halfway through. The Melodic line should be in your 2nd key selection, but still concentrate on the common notes between your two selected keys, but deviate occasionally.

3) Phrase 3 - very bitonal

a) Re-write the piano part we developed in Phrase 2 b) Chose the melody from 2b or 1d for your first melody instrument. If you want

to use your 1d melody you’ll have to adapt it to the current piano part. c) For your second melody instrument, write a counterpoint to your first

instrument, but in the other key. Concentrate on the common notes but deviate from them occasionally.



Biographies

Richard Grantham Brisbane born, bred and based composer and improvising multi-instrumentalist Richard Grantham (1975- ) is a musical jack of all trades whose compositional and performing experience stretches from orchestras to bands to solo improvisation, encompassing an exceptionally broad range of classical, folk, popular, cabaret and experimental styles. Learning piano and violin (later viola) from an early age, and composing his first works at age 7, he also credits a great deal of his foundational musical development to having sung in an Anglican church choir in the cathedral tradition for close to a decade. Another near-decade as a violist in the Queensland Youth Symphony and musical studies at the University of Queensland, majoring in composition under Philip Bračanin, rounded out his classical training. During his twenties, he carved out a experimental compositional niche working with microtonally modified orchestral instruments such as shortened flutes and lengthened clarinets. As part of this process he also began to teach himself to play the instruments he was modifying, commencing a lifelong trend towards developing proficiency upon a large number of orchestral and folk instruments currently numbering in the dozens. A major change of direction occurred around ten years ago when Grantham joined his first rock band on keyboards and amplified viola, and learned to improvise as a matter of course. More bands and other acts followed in subsequent years, providing experience improvising in numerous additional styles and working with artists from other disciplines ranging from spoken word to burlesque. His list of collaborators in this time includes such varied artists as award-winning poet David Stavanger, Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal, internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Emma Dean, Kathak dance guru Helena Joshi, ex-TISM frontman Damian Cowell, Man Booker shortlisted Indian writer Jeet Thayil, and innumerable Brisbane bands from the Eastern European inspired Doch Gypsy Orchestra to the burlesque/rock-opera cross of Bertie Page Clinic. Exposure to and familiarity with guitar effects pedals during this time ultimately led him in 2009 to develop his own solo improvised act, "The Viola Cloning Project", in which a loop recorder converts a single 5-string carbon-fibre viola into a one-man string and percussion orchestra. The VCP has performed extensively in the south-east corner of Queensland, in most Australian state capitals and numerous regional centres (notably five appearances in the closing Fire Event of the Woodford Folk Festival), and as far afield as California. His notated compositions have been performed by The Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Queensland Youth Symphony, flautist Janet McKay, six new music ensemble, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra violinist Sarah Curro, and Brisbane indie orchestra DeepBlue. In 2013 he was awarded the Lyrebird Commission to compose a new chamber work for Melbourne ensemble PLEXUS, which was premiered in 2014. Grantham is currently working towards a PhD at the Queensland University of Technology, investigating and devising new electronic and physical timbral resources for violin and viola.



Development as a composer - Richard Grantham The best thing I ever did as a composer was not to write music for about ten years, instead getting my hands dirty as an improviser in numerous bands covering innumerable genres from tango to junkyard blues. This experience honed my practical understanding of many aspects of music, including form and the effective use of tension and release in melody, harmony, rhythmic intensity, texture and so on. I strongly encourage this kind of versatility of approach. Alongside this sustained and very practical injection of music theory, playing with bands allowed me to develop skills on a wide range of instruments including all four that feature in The Lyrebird in my Piano. I had learnt piano and violin as a child (later making the switch to viola), but am self-taught on clarinet - allowing me to deduce the instrument's strongest and weakest aspects for myself, and keep them in the back of my head when attempting to compose idiomatically for the professionals. It makes for happy performers who want to champion your music (a big thanks again to PLEXUS!). Another relatively recent personal musical development that has aided me since my return to notated composition is my use of a loop recorder, primarily through my solo improvising act The Viola Cloning Project which is becoming an increasingly common sight at festivals around the country. Looping is a wonderful sandbox for developing and testing ideas without requiring the presence of an ensemble, and in this case has directly inspired the structure of the central movement Reichemitsu. Going back further, one technique that I hit upon early and have continued to use is the setting up of a pattern and then suddenly breaking out of it as soon as it becomes predictable. Sometimes this is done in a compounded manner (e.g. repeating the above broken pattern so that it becomes a new and asymmetrical pattern, and then breaking out of that too). Surprises of this type make appearances in Satók and Debugeti.



Lisa Cheney Lisa Cheney is an Australian composer of acoustic and acousmatic music, hailing from Queensland and now living in Melbourne. Her music communicates through varied styles which often explore notions of connection and authenticity through fascinations with the ‘edge’ of beauty; expression, poeticism, fragility, delicacy, resonant space, pacing, light and dark and atmospheric soundscapes. Cheney’s work has been described as ‘atmospheres of unfathomable spaciousness’ (Partial Durations), ‘melodic slivers with plaintive intensity’ (The Australian) and ‘fantastic and frightening in its detail and colour’ (Resonate). Her body of work incorporates orchestra, chamber, voice, acousmatic collaborations, arrangements and works for theatre and ballet. Cheney is the recipient of several scholarships and awards, including the Silver Harris and Jeff Peck Prize for Composition, the Slow Music Festival’s Quiddity Composition Prize and is a grant recipient from the Australia-Korea Foundation for creative research in South Korea. Her music has been commissioned and performed by The Southern Cross Soloists, The Australian Voices, the Queensland Conservatorium Symphony Orchestra, Plexus, Syzygy, Brisbane Philharmonic Orchestra, Sydney Antiphony, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and the Australian Ballet amongst others. Cheney holds a Bachelor of Music in Composition (2008) and Master of Music (2013) from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music where she studied with Gerard Brophy and Gerardo Dirie respectively. Her research in to the early career experiences of female composers in Australia was supervised by Brydie-Leigh Bartleet. She is currently an Australian Post Graduate Research Scholarship recipient completing her PhD in Music at The University of Melbourne, supervised by Elliott Gyger and Katy Abbott Kvasnica. Cheney has been the Academic Assistant to the Melbourne Conservatorium Composition Faculty and currently tutors in music composition and theory. She has been a composition fellow at the Atlantic Music Festival, AYO National Music Camp, Brevard Music Centre, Yale Norfolk New Music Workshop, Valencia International Performance Academy, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s Cybec Composers’ Program and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra’s Composers’ School. The Pool and the Star (2014) written as part of the Cybec Program was selected to be performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Metropolis New Music Festival under the baton of Finnish maestro Olli Mustonen. Cheney’s passion for championing new music can be seen in her role as co-founder and curator of ‘Making Waves’: an online listening space dedicated to Australian composition. In 2017 she was named Victorian Young Achiever of the Year for the Arts. She is currently working on a new opera for children based on Edward Lear’s nonsense poem The Owl and the Pussycat. Select scores are available for purchase through the Australian Music Centre. For more information please visit: www.lisacheney.com.au



http://www.lisacheney.com.au/

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Education Kit - Limelight · 2017 Limelight Australian Composition Seminar Hosted by Santa Sabina College, Strathfield Education Kit ... Step 8 - using your pitch centres from step